The present invention relates to an implant for the dorsal stabilization of a human or animal spinal column, comprising an attachment device for placing in position against and/or fixing to spinous processes of adjacent vertebrae of the spinal column.
Furthermore, the present invention relates to an implant system for the dorsal stabilization of a human or animal spinal column with at least one implant for the dorsal stabilization of the spinal column, comprising an attachment device for placing in position against and/or fixing to spinous processes of adjacent vertebrae of the spinal column with instrumentation for inserting the implant into a human or animal body.
An implant of the type described at the outset is known, for example, from U.S. Pat. No. 6,695,842. Its purpose is the static, dorsal stabilization of the spinal column. For this purpose, it is fixed to spinous processes of adjacent vertebrae of the spinal column and keeps them at a predetermined distance, in particular, in order to relieve pressure on an intervertebral disk arranged between the two vertebrae. Implants of this type are inserted following operations on intervertebral disks, in particular, or serve as additional stabilization following the removal of an intervertebral disk and subsequent fusion of adjacent vertebrae to one another.
The known implant is not, however, suitable for successively accustoming an intervertebral disk, which has been treated operatively, to natural strain again. It can either stabilize two vertebrae relative to one another or completely free the two vertebrae once the implant has been removed. As a result, either a complete relieving of pressure on the intervertebral disk or a complete load on the intervertebral disk is brought about when an implant is present and after it has been removed, respectively.
It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to improve an implant and an implant system of the type described at the outset such that they can be used for the dynamic dorsal stabilization of the spinal column.